


Rumour Has It

by singawaytheblues



Category: Figure Skating RPF, Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: F/M, Scott makes a semi appearance, bc when can he not, i love him so, 💁🏻♀️
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:53:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24074005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/singawaytheblues/pseuds/singawaytheblues
Summary: That time Tessa Virtue gets engaged, maybe
Relationships: Morgan Rielly/Tessa Virtue
Comments: 6
Kudos: 39





	Rumour Has It

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FindingTessa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FindingTessa/gifts).



“Self quarantine over. Goodbye BC ✌🏻, next stop Ontario 👋🏻”

Tessa read over her caption one more time before hitting post on Instagram. It was just a silly photo Morgan had taken of her as they finished packing up their car. In it, she was pretending to shove the last of their bags into the trunk that was packed full from head to toe.

Canada had finally given the all clear for travel, and the borders were back open again which would make their trip back home much faster. They were driving back to her home in London and were eager to get on the road.

It had been a long 6 months at Morgan’s home in North Vancouver but it had also been refreshing, Tessa thought.

She never would have imagined a life where she was able to stay rooted in one spot for so long.

While she understood that severity of the situation and didn’t take it lightly, she was also grateful for all the time she had been able to spend with Morgan.

“Ready to head out?” Morgan asks her, pulling her out of her thoughts in her head.

“Yes sir. Just need your keys.”

Begrudgingly, he tosses over his keys to her and she catches them while sticking her tongue out at him. He had wanted to do all the driving, was worried about her having to navigate while not being able to see out of any of the back windows. But she had argued back that it made more sense for them to split the drive and cut down on the amount of stops they would have to take. They were only planning on stopping and sleeping over once along the way, maybe twice if they really needed it.

She knew the first part of the trip was taking her down to the states so after making sure passports were within reach she put on a Spotify playlist and pulled out of his driveway.

Getting through the border had been easy enough. There wasn’t a long line, not that they were expecting there to be, and within minutes they were driving down Washington state.

5 hours into their drive, Tessa saw a sign for Ellensburg. Slowing down, she scanned the roads for a sign of a gas station. She knew they would need to top up here, not having enough to get to Spokane which was still another 2 hours away.

Spotting one on the right hand corner in front of her, she switched lanes and pulled in, just as Morgan was coming to from the nap he had been taking.

“Let me do it” he said to her, “you go stretch your legs.”

She grabbed her phone from the centre console and got out of the car. Giving him a quick kiss, she started walking through the gas station parking lot to the patch of grass near the back.

Looking at her phone, she saw the large number of Instagram notifications and news hits on her name. She dismissed these though, would go through them later when it was Morgan’s time to drive. It was normal for her to have that a lot of activity after posting something online.

She replied to her mom and sisters check-in texts, letting them know where they were and that they would be back on the road soon. She went to close out of her messages when she did a double take.

SM (1)

Why had Scott texted her?

She opened it only to read his message in confusion.

“Guess I’m the one who’s sending the congratulations text this time eh! Let’s catch up when you’re home”

Not totally understanding what he was talking about, she just sent him back a bunch of ‘????´s, followed by a “but yes please it’s been too long.”

She saw Morgan finishing up at the pump then and walked back over to their car.

“Scott just sent me the weirdest text,” she told him, showing him the message in her phone.

Morgan looked at it in puzzlement as well.

“What’s he congratulating you for?”

“I’m not totally sure?” She replied looking up at him.

“Probably nothing important though,” she followed up with, “Let’s get back on the road”

She opened the driver side door, buckling up her seat belt as Morgan slid back into the passenger side.

“I’m going to try and get some more sleep. Wake me up in a couple hours?” He asked her.

“Sure thing babe,” she replied as she pulled back onto the road.

Scott’s message was still swirling around in her brain. What on earth had he been talking about. All those thoughts were lost though when her favourite hall & oats song came through the speakers.

When daylight started to turn to dusk, Tessa shook Morgan awake.

“You ready to drive soon?” She asked.  
They had left at 7am this morning and it was now going on 7pm. Her legs were starting to feel restless.

“Yup, ready whenever you are” he replied.  
She saw a sign for a rest stop 2.5 miles away.

When they pulled in, they both used the washrooms quickly, filled up with gas again, and had a couple of the snacks that they had brought with them before getting back on the road; this time with Morgan in the driver’s seat.

Tessa took out her phone, her mind not feeling quite tired enough to shut her eyes.

That’s when she saw it again.

SM (1)

She opened Scott’s text, remembering now what he had sent to her earlier.

“Congrats on your engagement, you goof! Did you already forget? Double date drinks on me, I want to hear all about it!”

Sorry, what?

She reread his text, and then again, and then again.

Engagement???

Tessa Virtue was not engaged.

At least not that she knew of?

And she was pretty sure she would know if she was.

She sent him back another string of ‘????’s before going to check on the rest of her notifications from earlier.

And that’s when she saw them. The slew of congratulatory posts and comments. The articles that had been written. Everyone from the Toronto Star to her next door neighbour were posting about it.

Apparently she, Tessa Virtue, was engaged to him, the man currently sitting to her left, Morgan Rielly.

She couldn’t understand why people were all of a sudden running with this.

The only thing she could think of was her instagram post from earlier, but if anything she would think people just thought maybe they were officially moving in together. Not getting married?

(Not that she didn’t not want to get married to Morgan, but that was a whole other thing)

Her instagram comments were just filled with more congratulations, so she switched over to twitter knowing that if she just searched her name, she might be able to find something her fans had posted.

She didn’t have to scroll far when she saw it, a zoomed in photo of her right hand from her post earlier. The user had even gone so far as to circle the ring that was on her third finger.

So that was it.

People saw the ring and assumed that meant she was engaged.

Apparently the fact that it was on her right hand and not her left was besides the point (because everything’s supposed to be a hidden agenda when she posts did you not know? And this was what that was).

“Penny for your thoughts?” Morgan says to her then, pulling her out of her spiralling search.

“People think we’re engaged. That’s what Scott’s text was about”

“People what?”

“Think we’re engaged. They saw my ring and assumed it was an engagement ring and that I had just put it on the right hand to make it seem like it wasn’t.”

“That’s....absurd?” He says to her, mouth slightly agape.

“It is, yes,” she sighs, “But you know how people can be. They see one little thing and assume they know everything”

He looks at her then, taking his eyes off the road for a split second. But a split second is all he needs to see the sadness and frustration behind them.

He knows she hates this part. Hates it because she loves connecting with her fans and the people that have supported her for so long, but also knows that that comes with a hefty price and there’s nothing you can do about it.

It’s a double-edged sword.

He sees the next rest stop sign and puts his signal on to exit the highway.

Pulling in, he finds a parking spot and turns off the car. He turns towards her giving her his full attention, eyes trained on her.

She looks at him then and that’s when the words start to spill.

“I just hate that, what was supposed to be a fun innocent post has now blown up into this. Even Scott thinks it’s real. The person who probably knows me even better than you, was led to believe this was true. I just don’t get why this seems to always happen to me.”

She pauses to take a deep breath before continuing,  
“Every time I post anything online, people always think there’s another meaning to it. I hate that I can never just post something and it mean what it shows at face value. I’m not some evil villain with some mastermind plan. I’m just a girl who skated at the olympics; why do people not get that?” She huffs out at him, crossing her arms across her chest.

She hates feeling this way and coming off like she’s ungrateful for what she has, but sometimes things can get overwhelming.

And she thinks an entire country reporting on your (non)engagement can count as overwhelming.

“Look, I can’t pretend to understand what it’s like because I don’t. I don’t know what it’s like to have your every move picked apart by hundreds of people, and I don’t know what it’s like to have people consistently acting like they know what’s going on in your life and what your every move is. But what I do know is, the person that does know is you. And that person can either let it consume them or that person can fight back. I know you like to keep the peace and you try and make everyone happy. But your happiness is important too, Tess, and it’s not worth giving up your happiness for the happiness of others. At least not in this case”

She looks at him then, can see the sincerity behind his eyes. “What did I ever do to deserve you,” she breathes out, letting her anger and frustrations go with it.

“More like what did I ever do to deserve you,” he chuckles back.

He undoes his seat belt then, leaning across the console to wrap his arms around her.

“Show them who’s boss,” he says while rubbing his hands up and down her back.

She starts laughing and he pulls back from his hug, giving her a questioning look.

“Who’s boss” she snorts out in between laughs. “God, I love you” she smiles at him then, before turning back to face the windshield.

“You good?” He asks, just to make sure.

“I’m good, yeah, let’s keep going. Don’t want to have to explain to people that our trip took extra long because I couldn’t keep myself together”

She’s still laughing to herself quietly as he pulls back out onto the road. He steals glances at her from the corner of his eye every couple of seconds to make sure she really is okay.

She pulls her phone back out then and he tenses beside her.

“Calm down I’m not going to read anything. Just gonna show them “who’s boss”” she says, feeling the unease of him.

She opens instagram stories then and holds out her right hand. She snaps a picture, her hand held up in front of her with the dark sky of the night behind it.

She quickly types a caption before hitting send and then turns off her phone.

Morgan reaches his right hand over towards her, palm up, and she places her left in it, knowing exactly what he wants.  
His fingers curl around hers to hold her hand as he asks, “What did you write on it.”

She laughs then, knowing he’ll appreciate her response  
“I just put #notengaged #thisismyrighthand #noulteriormotive #boss”

It’s at the last one that he starts cracking up. She joins in then and the two of them can’t stop laughing.  
Just when they think they have it under control they look at each other and start off again.

She knows some people still won’t believe it but, right here in this moment, laughing with Morgan somewhere on the I-90 in Montana, she doesn’t care.

Because these are the moments that bring her happiness and as he said it’s her happiness that matters.

**Author's Note:**

> Someone asked for what would happen if this picture had been posted in today’s fandom and how people would react so I just ran with it 🤷🏻♀️
> 
> As always, thoughts, comments, criticism, anything really


End file.
